Shooting Down The Nra

January 17, 1991

The Supreme Court has let stand a federal ban enacted in 1986 on the purchase and sale of machine guns. This is not a liberal court; it is a court shaped by the appointments of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. And its decision is eminently sensible.

Had the court overturned the law, hopes for further restrictions on assault weapons and other firearms would have been dashed. While the National Rifle Association and other gun advocates will continue to resist gun control, the court's decision makes it clear that lawmakers have a constitutional right to restrict access to guns. But then only the NRA and its ilk ever really doubted that right to begin with.

The question now is whether the fainthearted lawmakers in Washington will take courage from the court's ruling and pass further restrictions on weapons. What's needed is a seven-day nationwide waiting period for the purchase of any firearm. A hodgepodge of gun laws, varying from state to state, will not be effective in reducing the weapon-related violence that is destroying many urban areas in this country.

New York City, where there were more than 2,200 murders in 1990, is a prime example. About 70 percent of those crimes were estimated to involve unlicensed firearms. Although New York's gun-control law is among the toughest in the country, more than 16,000 illegal firearms were confiscated by New York police in 1989.

As long as criminals have easy access to guns in some states, it will be impossible to keep firearms out of cities such as New York, Washington and Richmond.

A national, seven-day waiting period will make it harder for criminals to get weapons.